He’s Had His Phil of Open Rough

Next month, we’re going to find out one more time if Phil Mickelson and major tournaments do indeed mix.

So far, of course, they haven’t. The 27-year-old left-hander has won 12 tournaments, but he’s winless in 23 majors. Not that Mickelson hasn’t come close--third at the 1996 Masters and at the 1994 PGA and a tie for fourth at the 1995 U.S. Open.

Mickelson is going to give it another try June 18-21 at the U.S. Open. Everybody knows how tough U.S. Open courses are, and the Olympic Club in San Francisco won’t be any different. In fact, it’s probably going to be harder to solve than why Mickelson hasn’t won a major yet.

High rough, small greens, tight fairways, that’s the Olympic Club. But Mickelson said this week that he’s going to be ready . . . with a new strategy.

He’s going to hit the beach.

“If I’m hitting out of the rough, I’m going to aim for the bunkers and hit it there more,” Mickelson said. “Is that a new tactic? No, it’s not. It’s just accepting the lesser of two evils.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Golf Assn. must have been listening. The USGA wants to make the greenside bunkers much more difficult to escape, so the plan is to replace existing sand with softer sand. That might lead to some plugged lies, but it’s also going to make Mickelson’s plan much harder to pull off.

“A bunker by definition is a hazard,” said John Fleming, the course superintendent. “And what the USGA is trying to do is make a bunker an area a player definitely would not want to be.”

HIRSUTE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Time now for a multiple-choice quiz. When David Duval won last week at Houston, the biggest news coming out of the victory was:

(a) It was his fifth win in his last 12 tournaments.

(b) He is now the leading money winner on the PGA Tour.

(c) He closed with a 64 and came from six shots back.

(d) It was his first win without a goatee.

If you answered (d), you’re right. Since it’s clearly not how you play, but how you look, the Duval-minus-his-goatee news was a prime topic of conversation at this week’s BellSouth tournament in Duluth, Ga.

Part of the reason is that Duval’s personality isn’t that well known, so observers settle for whatever they can get. For instance, Duval once was spotted reading a book, so he quickly was branded an intellectual.

This could get out of hand, of course. If someone sees him in church, for sure he’s going to give up golf and become a monk. If he smiles, he’s a stand-up comic. If he eats a salad, he’s a vegetarian.

Duval, who is in contention again after a 67 Thursday, said shaving his goatee wasn’t that big a deal and it’s not going to shed any light on his personality.

“That was nothing,” he said. “I find it almost amusing, really, that anybody paid attention to it. I was just home and I guess I got bored. It was just . . . sometimes you forget what you look like without any hair.”

Yeah, that happens a lot.

CASEY’S CART

When he tries to qualify for the U.S. Open next month, Casey Martin is going to be riding a cart, all right, just not the kind of cart he expected. The USGA is leasing a one-rider cart for Martin and has offered to ship it to him in advance of the June 8 sectional qualifying event at Clovernook Country Club in Cincinnati.

Called “The Speed Demon,” the cart is made by Pride Golf in Exeter, Pa. The USGA chose it for Martin not only because it is endorsed by the Assn. of Disabled American Golfers, but because it doesn’t present the potential for commercialization of a regular, two-person cart.

The one-rider cart never has been used in a golf event, according to the USGA. It’s lighter and more mobile. “This is the Mercedes-Benz version of all disabled vehicles,” Craig Smith of the USGA said.

Martin said he does not expect the smaller cart to be a problem for him.

The USGA decided to allow Martin to use a cart in Open qualifying after Martin successfully sued the PGA Tour under the Americans With Disabilities Act and won the right to ride a cart in competition. Martin is playing the Nike Tour, and is seventh on the money list.

“We’ve got an executive director who said ‘Let’s not make an issue out of this,’ ” Smith said. “David Fay said, ‘Let’s just play.’ ”

MORE CASEY

Martin’s newest passion? Sony PlayStation, which also is Tiger Woods’ video game console of choice. Martin’s favorite game is, understandably, work-related: “Hot Shots Golf.”

UH, THEY HIT HARD?

What do Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench and Ivan Lendl have in common? They’re all in the Hall of Fame (Schmidt and Bench in baseball and Lendl in tennis) and they’re all entered in qualifying for the U.S. Open--as professionals. The USGA received 7,114 entries for qualifying.

PAVIN’S PLACE

Corey Pavin, who was born in Oxnard and went to UCLA, is moving back to Southern California from Orlando, Fla. Pavin hopes to be in his new home at Rancho Santa Fe by June 1.

TIGER UPDATE

All right, so Ernie Els and a few others think he isn’t going to do well at the U.S. Open because of his style of play, but Woods isn’t fazed.

“As soon as I win one, the critics will say, ‘Why haven’t you won the British?’ If I can win one of those, it will be, ‘Why can’t you win the PGA?’ or ‘Why can’t you win the Grand Slam?’ There’s always going to be something,” Woods said.

“It is one of those never-ending stories. [Jack] Nicklaus had it his entire career. You just let it run off your shoulders.”

Woods’ schedule leading up to the U.S. Open isn’t set, but it looks pretty busy. He is playing the BellSouth this weekend and then will defend his title next week at the GTE Byron Nelson in Irving, Texas. Woods might skip the MasterCard Colonial at Fort Worth, because he’ll probably play the next week at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, then take two weeks off before the U.S. Open. After that, Woods will defend his title at the Western Open in Lemont, Ill.

THE SLOT MACHINES WERE BUSY

So you’re Jack Nicklaus and you’re starring in a groundbreaking for a golf course you’ve just designed. What do you do?

What Nicklaus did was use an iron instead of a shovel at the ceremony Wednesday for a $150-million upscale resort at the multibillion dollar Lake Las Vegas resort, about 20 miles southeast of the Las Vegas Strip.

A NORMAN CONQUEST

Will he or won’t he? Is Greg Norman done or not? Because he’s out of action until November after having shoulder surgery, guessing Norman’s future probably is going to a be popular game for a while.

In any event, he hinted in the May issue of Australian Golf Digest that he’s ready to quit . . . if he doesn’t feel any better about playing when he recovers.

“I get more pain than pleasure now by going to the golf course,” Norman said. “That has to change or I’ll hang them up--in a heartbeat-- if I can’t turn that around.”

THIS ISN’T TRIVIAL

There are only two players to have lost all four majors in playoffs. That would be Norman--the 1987 Masters, the 1984 U.S. Open, the 1989 British Open and the 1993 PGA Championship--and Craig Wood--the 1933 British Open, the 1934 PGA, the 1935 Masters and the 1939 U.S. Open.

HEARTY HALE

Hale Irwin is playing the BellSouth PGA Tour event this week.

“I miss it out here at times,” Irwin said. “But I don’t miss it enough to come back full time.”

Sure enough, making $1,051,850 in eight weeks on the Senior PGA Tour, as Irwin has--eases the pain.

ASK NANCY

Nancy Lopez, who is playing against Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb and Laura Davies in the JCPenney LPGA Skins Game in Frisco, Texas, may be 40, but she isn’t exactly bashful.

So, Nancy, how many tournaments could the Nancy of 20 years ago win now?

“Probably six,” she said.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Nick Faldo has signed an endorsement and partnership deal with Adams Golf, maker of the Tight Lies fairway woods. Faldo will play the Tight Lies three-, four- and five-woods, carry an Adams golf bag and wear a logo cap. He has agreed to play the company’s irons, once they are developed. . . . Ken Venturi is the new spokesman for the Orlimar TriMetal fairway wood and will design a signature line of Orlimar putters.

Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gil Morgan and Irwin are among 56 golfers the USGA made exempt for the U.S. Senior Open at Riviera in July.

Proving that it’s never too early to have an off-season event, even when it’s in June, Johnny Miller, John Daly and Nicklaus will be among those competing in the inaugural Champions Challenge. The $550,000 event between two-player teams in an 18-hole scramble, will be played June 22-23 at Thanksgiving Point Course in Lehi, Utah. A portion of the proceeds will benefit First Tee.

The 16th Vince Ferragamo Foundation Celebrity Classic will be June 2 at Los Coyotes in Buena Park. The event benefits the Special Olympics. Details: (714) 633-1099.

The fourth Brandie Burton tournament will be June 5 at California Country Club in Whittier. The event benefits the Spanish Trails Girls Scout Council. Details: (909) 624-6696 or (626) 331-7325.